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Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:58 am
by Sinus Sawtooth
yo! I've been trying to get that original bassline vibe from traditional dub (king earthquake, chazbo, iration steppas, king tubby etc), but can't quit get it right... any idea's on synths (vsti's) I could use for that, I've been fucking around with a simple osc set to sine, throw in some harmonics and warm it up to get that analoque feel but it isn't working that well... also tried some bassguitar vsti's but those sound just awefully wrong :-)

whatever

X

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:38 pm
by vivace
Image

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:49 pm
by lynn mc
vivace wrote:Image
haha

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:15 pm
by __________
you're gonna have to sample some real bass guitar to get the 'authentic' dub sound. no other way really...no synth sounds the same.

straight up sample some king tubby/scientist records, there's loads of bits where the drums cut out and its just a bassline playing. thats what i do :D

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:21 pm
by Sinus Sawtooth
£10 Bag wrote:you're gonna have to sample some real bass guitar to get the 'authentic' dub sound. no other way really...no synth sounds the same.

straight up sample some king tubby/scientist records, there's loads of bits where the drums cut out and its just a bassline playing. thats what i do :D
yeah, I figured it out... time to undust my bassguitar and start playing that bitch

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:29 pm
by Sharmaji
fender jazz bass, amp, doctored ribbon mic placed BEHIND the cabinet(for the studio 1 sound), 1/4" tape at 15ips.

there's a reason the on-U crew, ADF, etc all still use real bass in addition to sub sambles... you can't really fake those vibes.

you can run it direct and do plently of ITB processing to get some real dub grit tho.

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:44 pm
by s i c k b o y
yaa bass guitar for original dub, but if your wantin a dub bass inna year 3000 style then maybe a sub with more distortion than usual? alot of iration steppas basses sound like have quite a bit of distortion effect i tihnk

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:06 pm
by slothrop
Sharmaji wrote:fender jazz bass, amp, doctored ribbon mic placed BEHIND the cabinet(for the studio 1 sound), 1/4" tape at 15ips.
Having Robbie Shakespeare to play it for you helps too...

Serious point, though, I think the problem with trying to use a bass guitar synth (eg something sample based) isn't just the sound, it's trying to get the fluency and naturalness and fluidity and sense of groove and all the little variations and fills and the way that the emphasis and tone changes to fit what the tune's doing - it's just really hard to do without a real bass player with solid skills and a lot of experience...

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 11:23 pm
by s i c k b o y
i hear flat wound strings are good on the bass for the dub sound... and playing a 5 string bass means you can go that liittle bit deeper too

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:04 am
by mks
Flat wounds all the way. And roll off the treble. I play Fender Jazz basses, both fretless and fretted and play a lot of live basslines for my broken beat productions. I've gotten good results using a D.I. with a bit of eq'ing. I also have an RE20 mic if I want to mic up the cab to give the sound a bit more air or room.

To the OP, there is nothing like the sound of a live electric bass for dub, but there are a couple of vst's out there that have real bass samples. Your best bet, if you do not play the bass yourself or have a friend do it, is to just find some good electric bass samples. Check out the Interrupter dub site if it's still up.

EZ

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:12 am
by Sinus Sawtooth
thanks for all the tips and advices really appreciated!!

I picked up my bassguitar and in a very short time learned that I can't play the damn thing :-) so have to improve my bassguitar skills first :i:

anyways, because I am lazy I tried a synth bass which I tried to shape like a very analogue synthbass which soundsw well,.. dubwise.. I think I came pretty close

Soundcloud

bass is made in Massive, I can send the patch if you like it...

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:19 am
by green plan
interruptor site is still up. dope little site

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:20 am
by Sinus Sawtooth
green plan wrote:interruptor site is still up. dope little site
yeah I know the site, great source of information.. too bad the forums aint very active there

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:48 am
by nowaysj
s i c k b o y wrote:flat wound strings
+1

and passive pickups.

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 8:47 pm
by trike12
Sinus Sawtooth wrote:thanks for all the tips and advices really appreciated!!

I picked up my bassguitar and in a very short time learned that I can't play the damn thing :-) so have to improve my bassguitar skills first :i:

anyways, because I am lazy I tried a synth bass which I tried to shape like a very analogue synthbass which soundsw well,.. dubwise.. I think I came pretty close

Soundcloud

bass is made in Massive, I can send the patch if you like it...

Find out what notes you need and record them one at a time, everyone can do that. :)

Re: Original roots dub basslines

Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:41 pm
by djake
i love dub basslines, keep meaning to record some at college but my mate keeps forgetting to bring his bass in :u:

also 3000th post (im sad) :lol: